Feasibility study and performance assessment of a new tri-generation integrated system for power, cooling, and freshwater production

In the present study, a power, cooling, and freshwater tri-generation system is proposed to meet the global requirements sustainably. A Kalina cycle (KC), an absorption refrigeration cycle (AC), and an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) coupled with reverse osmosis (RO) are integrated to form the proposed system. The performance of the proposed system is analyzed using thermodynamic and economic viewpoint. An integrated system combines the refrigerant loop of the water-ammonia absorption chiller, consisting of an evaporator and throttling valves with KC. The Kalina turbine discharges the heat and combines with generator to loop the ORC and generate power which drives the RO module. A portion of the mass flowrate enters the evaporator to generate cooling after being condensed in the AC unit. The effect of key thermodynamic parameters on system performance is studied using parametric analysis. The results show that the system is capable to generate 1,725 kW of power, 665 kW of cooling, and 3.42 m(3)/h of freshwater. The parametric analysis results indicate that the flash tank pressure has an optimum value which should be selected wisely. It is concluded that the parameters related to the KC are dominant ones because they can affect both the KC and the ORC. The proposed system is a flexible adapting power, cooling, and freshwater tri-generation demand.